


Got it Bad

by loudippedincaramel



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Bottom Harry, F/M, Fluff, Harry is 19, Louis has a cat, M/M, Student!Harry, a dab of smut, a tiny bit of pining, louis is 24, niall and liam are students, so it's all good, teacher!Louis, this is not underage, vague zouis, zayn is also a teacher
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-08
Updated: 2015-01-08
Packaged: 2018-03-04 17:53:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3077510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loudippedincaramel/pseuds/loudippedincaramel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry is a student that bounces around between living with his friends while making ends meet working at a restaurant. Louis is the hot English teacher. Somehow they end up living together and stuff happens.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Got it Bad

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sailingships](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sailingships/gifts).



> Hiii! So! I really hope you like this :) Like, I’m really sorry if it’s not what you wanted… I had this planned out to be so much more but in the end I cut it short. I’m sure it shows in some of the timing and stuff but honestly, it was getting to be pretty monstrous as it was, so, sorry :(  
> Also! There’s a tiny bit of Zouis bc at some point I forgot this fic wasn’t for me and by the time I remembered it wasn’t it was already done so I just ended it. Oops. The zouis is like, vaguely graphic? Is that a thing? It should be a thing.  
> Title from Hot for Teacher by Van Halen bc honestly, it was just begging to be used with a title like that..  
> Anyhow! I really hope I didn’t disappoint and that you at least sort of enjoy it :)

"Harry, wake up." Harry grumbles and rolls over, pulling a pillow over his head. "Five more minutes, Mum. I'll be up soon."

"Yeah, thanks, mate. I'm not that bad. Now get your arse up, it's six thirty already. Sophia's making breakfast." The door slams and Harry grumbles again. Right. First day of Uni.

Harry sits up, dragging his hands over his face, rubbing at his eyes to get the sleep out.

After dragging himself to the shower and half ass drying his hair, Harry makes his way to the kitchen, stomach growling at the smell of bacon. "Thanks, Sophia." He may be tired but there is one thing Harry is not and that is rude. Especially when he's already been staying at Liam's for the past three days.

Sophia gives him a hug and a kiss on the forehead on her way to sit by Liam, mumbling a 'no problem' into his skin. "You staying here again tonight, Harry?" She doesn't sound annoyed but Harry feels like a bother. He usually only stays one night at his friends, sometimes two. But this is the first time in a while he's stayed three consecutive nights somewhere. All because he forgot to grab his bags before he went off to work.

"No, that's alright. Thanks, though." He says, shaking his head the whole time. "I'll see if I can stay at Perrie's or Matt's tonight after work."

"Alright. You know we don't mind having you over, yeah? You could actually move in with us, we've got the spare room available." And this is why he doesn't stay long. Once, he made the mistake of staying a week at Matt’s. Matt offered for him to move in then, too, but then Harry would have to start paying rent. Harry needs every bit of spare money he has that doesn't get spent on his tuition, to save up for a flat of his own. And he can't do that if he's spending all his spare money on rent already.

That's not to say he's a freeloader, far from it, really. He pays his way through housework and cooking. Aside from this morning, of course. Harry blames the late shift he had to pull last night.

"No, thank you. I like it how it is now. At least then I can see all my friends." He smiles at her and Liam, grabbing their empty plates on his way to the kitchen.

"Come on, Haz! Hurry up and change! We gotta go or we'll be late!" Harry looks down at his clothes, sweatpants and an old band shirt, and shrugs. It's not like he has anybody to impress. "I'm ready, Li. Let me just grab my bags."

Harry runs to the bedroom, quickly shoving his dirty clothes in his bag and makes sure to grab his school bag on the way out. Last thing he needs is to show up to class with nothing but a bunch of clothes.

He grabs his beanie off the nightstand and shoves it on his head, jogging out to catch up with Liam.

***

Harry slumps in his seat, slightly out of breath because Liam had insisted they were going to be late and took off running. They make it with a minute to spare and while Harry is thankful to not be late on his first day, he still glares at Liam.

"Are you happy now? Teacher's not even bloody here yet." Liam glares right back at him, a lot more intimidatingly than Harry will ever manage, and huffs, crossing his arms.

"You'd be thanking me if she was already here. So shut up. I'm sure she's just running late because of family stuff. I heard her Mum's not doing well."

Harry gapes at him. " _How_ even do you know this stuff? Seriously?" Liam looks a bit uncomfortable at that and shifts in his seat.

"My dad told me. Now shut up, class is starting." It actually isn't, the teacher still isn't there, but Harry lets it slide nonetheless. Of course Liam would know. His dad is on the board of directors. Apparently, he's not too tight lipped about what goes on. Not that Harry can really blame him, Liam is one of the most trustworthy people Harry knows.

Nearly ten minutes into 'class time' and the teacher finally walks in. It's a man, though and Harry panics, budging over into Liam's space, whispering frantically in his ear. "Are you sure we're in the right room? You said 'she' that is definitely _not_ a 'she' that's a 'he'."  Liam shrugs helplessly, just as confused as Harry. "I dunno, mate. It's the same room number as our schedule."

Harry turns back to the front, watching as the teacher drops down into the chair behind the front desk. He's beautiful. Harry tries to think past that but, really, he's beautiful. His skin is tan like he just got back from a sunny vacation and his hair is swept over to the side in a messy fringe, like he just couldn't bother to do much with it after getting out of bed. His eyes are a really startling blue, easy to see even from the third row where Harry is sat. (Liam wanted to sit in the first, but Harry refused to do so. He kind of regrets that now.)

"Hello, everyone. My name is Louis. Mr. Tomlinson please." _Louis_. His name is beautiful, too. "No worries, everyone, you're all in the right class. As am I." He laughs at that, prompting a few other students to chuckle as well. Harry dies a little inside. Even his laugh is beautiful. Harry snaps back into focus after a particularly hard nudge in the ribs from Liam.

"Now, in case you didn't know, Mrs. Hall is unable to teach you this semester because her mother fell terminally ill and she will be tending to her until she is fit to come back." Harry feels terrible. His (supposed to be) teacher is losing her mother and Harry is quite possibly imagining what Mr. Tomlinson looks like under that shirt. He wants to undo every single button on the shirt Louis is wearing. Wants to run his hands over his chest, grope at the curve of his hips.

Liam elbows him again and Harry groans in pain, remembering just a second too late that they're in the middle of class.

Mr. Tomlinson's eyes snap to him at the interruption, clearly displeased. "And what's your name?"

Harry suddenly feels under-dressed, wishing he had worn jeans instead or at least done something with his hair other than shove it under a beanie. _Why_ did he decide to be lazy today? The displeased look is still aimed at him and Harry's imagination runs wild. He imagines any other scenario that might end up with Harry bent over the desk up front while Mr. Tomlinson punishes him.

"Hmm? You gonna answer me?" Right. Teacher. What did he ask again? "What's your name?" Harry flushes pink to his ears and he feels _so stupid_.

"Uhm, Harry. Styles, sir." A few people snicker at him making Harry turn more of a red than a pink.

"Hush, now. No being mean. So, Harry Styles. I assure you that I'm not thrilled to be here either, you know, Monday morning and all. And yes, English _is_ quite dreadful, especially at these god awful times in the morning. But I would prefer if you kept your complaints to yourself." He smiles gently and Harry feels even worse after that. Sure, his words were nice and his smile makes Harry have heart palpitations, but Harry feels like he disappointed him.

Louis turns back to the class and continues on with his speech, going over the syllabus and basic rules.

Liam leans over when he's sure Mr. Tomlinson isn't looking and whispers an apology to him. Harry shrugs his shoulders and continues to take notes on the paper in front of him. Well, if doodles of stickmen counted as notes.

"Alright, class is about over for today. We'll actually do some work Wednesday, starting with good old Romeo and Juliet." The class groans and Mr. Tomlinson laughs at them. Actually _laughs_ at them. "Come on guys, don't insult me. I'm wanted to be a drama teacher, what did you expect? I hate English. Need to make sure I can actually teach you guys something." He smirks a bit at the look on a few of the students and Harry swoons a bit. _Why_ does he look so bloody attractive even when he's being a little shit?

"And no being late! Forgot to mention that." A few of the students (including Liam) shoot him looks of disbelief, Mr. Tomlinson seemingly unfazed by them. "I mean, be here before me. I don't care when you get here but you better be here when I walk in or you’re out. Which, for the record, is usually on time. Mondays are just bloody awful." He shakes his head at that, dislodging a few hairs and Harry wants to run his fingers through it, wants to slide his hair back into place.

"Now, off you go. Get out my class." Harry quickly grabs his bags and stumbles in his haste to leave. He's pretty sure Mr. Tomlinson saw what with the (beautiful) laughter that follows immediately after.

***

_want to come to min e befor work? Sophias n class_

Harry groans and rubs his hand over his face, pulling a little at his bottom lip. It probably would be a good idea so Harry can get to work on getting ideas for his photography class. He groans _again_ because after the brief introduction to said class, the teacher decided to give their first project.

Worst part is, Harry's not even sure what it is. He spent _at least_ forty of the fifty minutes daydreaming about Mr. Tomlinson. Good thing he has a guide sheet.

_sure. on my way .x_

Harry shifts the bag on his shoulder and picks up his pace. The sky is getting that threatening look to it, like it's about to unleash the wrath of the gods. Honestly, Liam could have said something about coming over earlier. At least then he could have left his clothes bag there.

***

Harry is soaked when he reaches Liam's, the whole twenty minute walk apparently being too long for the rain to wait.

He drops his bags on the floor and immediately starts stripping to go throw them in the dryer.

"How was your second class, Haz?" Liam makes a face at the water dripping everywhere and goes to get Harry a towel. He comes back with an extra and starts mopping up the small puddle by where Harry is standing after throwing the extra at Harry to dry off. Honestly, Liam is awesome.

"It was alright, I guess."

"Alright? Really? That was the class you were most excited for." Poor Liam looks honestly crushed and Harry can't help but smile at little. "Was the teacher a dick or something?"

"Oh, no!" He's quick to reassure. "The teacher was fine, she's lovely. I just, uh, couldn't pay attention." Heat flushes in his cheeks and he starts messing with pots and pans and the kitchen, deciding to make them some lunch.

"Couldn't pay attention? What?" His face contorts with a look of disbelief, clearly not wanting to say whatever he's thought. Harry starts digging through the cupboards and refrigerator, making as much noise as possible to hopefully distract Liam. It doesn't work.

"Haz? Did you spend your entire photography class fantasizing about Mr. Tomlinson?" Harry starts throwing stuff in the pans on the stove and mumbles "not _all_ of the class."

Liam's snorts at him, clearly trying not to laugh. "Sorry, Haz. What was that?"

"I said, not the whole class."

"So exactly how much of the class did you waste fantasizing-"

"Wasn't fantasizing." Harry mumbles, throwing in some veggies for a stirfry.

"Fine. How long was it that you spent _thinking_ about Mr. Tomlinson?"

"About forty minutes."

Liam honestly looks shocked at that. Probably disgusted by the idea that Harry is wasting his tuition money. And, well, he's not wrong. Harry's a bit disgusted with himself, too, and it's only the first day.

"Got it bad, huh? It's about time."

Harry ignores that. Sure, it's been a while since he's been with someone. Even longer since he's been in a proper relationship, but Harry's not too worried about it. At least he'll be able to focus on school if he's not worried about a relationship as well.

“I’m fine, Liam. Just, don’t worry about it.” Harry hands Liam his plate and settles on the couch opposite of him, accepting the fact that he won’t actually be getting any work done.

***

“Hey, Perrie? Is it cool if I stay at yours tonight?” Perrie doesn’t stop what she’s doing, continuing to clear off the table in front of her.

“Yeah, sure. My boyfriend is going to be over for a bit though, just a heads up.” She wipes off the table after setting the dishes aside while Harry chews at his bottom lip. He doesn’t want to intrude but no one else is working that Harry trusts enough to stay over.

“Is that a problem?”

Harry shakes his head, “No, no. That’s alright. Just.. he’s not going to mind is he?”

Perrie laughs then, quick and loud, and scoops up the tray of dirty dishes to head off to the back. “Not at all, babe. He’s definitely not the jealous type.”

“Alright, then.” He follows her back and heads over to his bags to work on his project until Perrie is done.

Perrie and Harry make it home at about ten, much earlier than the night before, to a guy lounging on the couch. Harry does a quick double take at the man, mouth hanging slightly open.

Seriously, Harry is going to end up with whiplash from all the beautiful men he keeps seeing. First, Mr. Tomlinson and now this guy.

Perrie walks over, sitting down in his lap and giving him a kiss. “Harry, this is Zayn.”

Zayn just nods his head and mumbles a “hey”.

“Harry’s gonna stay here tonight, alright, babe?” He nods again and wraps his arms around Perrie.

They really do look good together. His carefully styled hair, jet black and in a quiff is a nice contrast to Perrie’s blonde. His darker skin complements her white in a way that’s usually only captured in art. Harry really wants to take a picture.

“I’ll just be in the room then, if that’s okay. Got a project I need to work on. Thanks, Pez.”

“No problem, Harry. Just don’t stay up too late, yeah? You look exhausted.” Honestly, she’s worse than his mum. He smiles and heads to the spare room that’s made to be his when he stays over.

After about an hour of working on his project, he gets ready for bed. At least today wasn’t too bad. Aside from embarrassing himself in front of Mr. Tomlinson, it’s actually been quite good. Hopefully, the rest of the year is just as good.

***

Harry wakes up at nine on the dot. It’s quite nice, actually, and Harry is glad he he chose the eleven am lecture instead of the earlier one.

He takes his time getting ready and makes a full breakfast just because he can. It’s not often he gets a chance to, so he savors every bite and has an extra piece of toast to make up for not eating much the day before.

At 10.15 he gathers all his things and puts the leftovers away for Perrie when she wakes up. The sky doesn’t look near as angry today, making the walk to the bus stop quite enjoyable, if not a little cold.

He makes it to class a whole five minutes early (Liam would be so proud) and nearly trips over his feet when he walks in. Perrie’s boyfriend, Zayn, is sitting at the desk in the front shuffling through some papers and checking the time on his phone.

Great, now he has two classes with distractingly hot men for teachers. Wonderful.

The class passes by quickly, Zayn (Mr. Malik as he asked to be called) is quite passionate about art and has a very no nonsense attitude when it comes down to it.

His voice, coupled with that passion, makes it easy to learn and pay attention. Thankfully, he doesn’t set a project, but promises that he’ll be assigning one when they return on Thursday.

He gets a text from Liam just after class ends to meet up at a pub for lunch. Harry tries to decline, insisting that he needs to go to the library to start working on the small assignments he has, when Liam tells him he has to come.

Which.. is weird, to say the least. But he says there’s a guy he has to meet. After being assured it’s not a blind date, Harry changes directions and walks to the pub just off campus.

He finds Liam rather quickly, sitting at a booth near the back, talking to a blonde guy about something that, even from here, looks pretty important.

“Hey, guys. How’s it going?” He slides into the booth across from them, taking a sip of the water Liam pushes over to him.

“Hey, Harry. This is Niall.”

“Hey, mate.” he says, accent thick.

“Hi, Niall. So, how do you know Liam?”

“We’re in business together.” Right. Liam had business today, a class he was genuinely excited for, for whatever reason.

The waiter comes over then to take their orders and Harry gets a small basket of chips, tips having been shit the night before. Honestly, he’s glad he’s got the long shift tonight; he might actually make enough tips to have a decent lunch the next day.

Liam looks disapproving but really, there’s not a whole lot Harry can do. He continues the conversation to avoid Liam asking any questions. “Business, huh? What are you majoring in, then?”

“Music Management. I want to be able to help people get out there, you know? And not like those shitty labels, I want to actually be able to do right by my clients.” There’s a spark in his eye as he talks about it and Harry just knows he’ll go far.

The rest of lunch goes rather well. Niall is amazing and Harry learns so much about him. It literally feels like Niall shoved ten years worth of knowledge in his head and Harry is happy and smiling by the time they’re ready to leave.

“Hey, Harry? Sophia was wanting to know if you were going to be back over tonight.” Harry’s smile drops and he quickly looks somewhere, anywhere, else.

“No. I’ll probably ask Tom or Matt if I can stay tonight. Whoever’s working I guess.” He shifts awkwardly on his feet, wishing Liam wouldn’t have said anything in front of Niall. The boy looks a little confused and Harry feels a bit bad to keep such a trivial piece of information from him after nearly getting Niall’s life story. He’ll find out anyways if he sticks around like Liam so clearly wants him to.

“I, er-. I just kind of stay at friends’ houses. I just moved here at the beginning of summer and didn’t have money for a flat so I’ve been staying with some friends and saving up money for my own. It’s not working out too well, though.” he trails off. Niall, the amazing person he is, doesn’t even bat an eyelid.

“You’re welcome to stay at mine anytime, mate. Fair warning though, I’m usually either at a party or throwing one on the weekends. I don’t have much, but I do have a couch.”

Harry laughs at the last part and hugs Niall. “Thanks, that means a lot. Might even take you up on it sometime.” He lets go of Niall long enough to give Liam a hug as well.

“I’m off now. Studying to do and all that. See you guys later.” He waves them off and heads to the library for some relax time before work.

If anything he’s gained a new friend today. And new friends are always awesome.

***

The next month drags by, the classes get harder and the shifts at work get longer. Apparently they’ve hit the ‘busy season’ and Harry has been working every day but Mondays and Tuesdays. His daily routine consists of early morning classes, a few hours of school work then actual work till past midnight every night.

He’s managed to keep his grades up and he’s rather proud of that, but his sleep has seriously suffered for it. More than once, he’s found himself drifting off and nearly falling asleep in his classes. Usually that only happens after an “all night study session” as he tells Liam.

Really, there are just some days where he feels like too much of a burden or doesn’t get a chance to ask to stay at someone’s place. So, he goes to the library to get some work done and catch a couple of hours of sleep in one of the study rooms.

The chairs aren’t very comfortable for long  periods of time and sleeping bent over on the table has not been the greatest for his back. Still, he powers through and manages to not fail at school.

***

It’s another Monday and Harry is absolutely exhausted. Last night at work was brutal. Not only did he get very little tips but he had somehow managed to drop four different trays and his manager, James, ended up yelling at him and made him pay to replace the last two orders of food.

He’s rushing to English and nearly slams into someone on the way. He sidesteps last second, managing to knock into the wall and drops one of his bags. He turns to apologize and his mouth runs dry.

“Shit. Sorry. I mean, sorry, Mr. Tomlinson. I didn’t see you there.” Mr. Tomlinson laughs at him, eyes crinkling and leans down to pick up Harry’s bag.

“In a hurry, then?” Harry blushes and takes his bag back from Mr. Tomlinson. Of course he’d have to drop the one with all of Harry’s clothes, thank God it didn’t rip open. That’s one situation he’d like to avoid.

“Oh, uh, yeah. Just.. trying not to be late. My, uh, teacher doesn’t seem to like that.” He smiles weakly, hoping that Mr. Tomlinson will ignore his lame attempt at a joke.

“Well, I do believe I saw your teacher earlier. Think he was going to go to get a cup of tea.” He winks at Harry and turns around, walking back where he came from. What the hell. He stares as Mr. Tomlinson turns a corner and out of sight, drinking from the cup he has in his hand.

Okay. So, that was weird. He fixes his bags and walks into class, slipping into his seat beside Liam. “What took you so long? You said you were almost here ten minutes ago!” Liam hisses at him.

“Yeah, about that. I was actually just leaving the library then.” Liam sighs and shakes his head. This is the third time Harry has nearly been late from staying at the library.

“He should be here soon. You’re lucky you made it before he kicked you out.” It’s true. That seems to be Mr. Tomlinson’s policy; get there after he does and he makes you leave. Tears don’t work either, one girl tried that and he sent her off anyways.

Thankfully, Mr. Tomlinson comes in then to avoid any other questions that Liam could come up with.

“Morning class. Glad to see you’re all here.” He smirks and winks at Harry, leaning against his desk to start the lesson. Harry blushes and looks down, getting started on his notes.

English is by far Harry’s favorite class. Mr. Tomlinson makes boring old Shakespeare fun and exciting. It doesn’t hurt that Mr. Tomlinson seems to have taken a liking to Harry. Whether it’s because of his dumb jokes that he tells or because he’s actually interested and engages in class discussion when others won’t, he’ll probably never know.

But Harry lives for those moments. When his teacher’s attention is completely on him and the smiles he gets for a particularly good input to a discussion. Harry’s even made sure he doesn’t come to class in sweatpants and a beanie again. One or the other, sure, but not both.

As lame as he knows it is, he really just wants Mr. Tomlinson’s approval. More than that, he wants _Louis’_ approval.

Liam has definitely noticed and has managed to rope Niall into teasing him as well. _All the time._ Seriously. Every time Harry meets up with the two for lunch they spend the first fifteen minutes or so teasing him about his crush; if he stays over at their house (he’s recently started staying with Niall and it’s quite nice) they’ll tease him for wanting to impress Louis when he works extra hard on his English.

Harry snaps out of his day dreaming when Mr. Tomlinson claps his hands together to get their attention, eyes focused on Harry. “Alright, that’s it for today. Make sure you guys put your papers on my desk before you leave.”

Paper? Oh fuck. That’s right. Mr. Tomlinson assigned a paper due on the relationship of Beatrice and Benedick last Friday. Harry completely forgot about it having been working nearly all weekend.

Harry takes his time putting his stuff together, telling Liam to go on without him before heading up to the front.

“Hey, Harry.” Mr. Tomlinson smiles brightly at him, Harry feels a little like dying inside.

“Uhm, hey.” He looks down at his boots, shuffling his feet a bit awkwardly.

“Can I help you with something? Or are you just going to stand there and play with your feet?” Harry looks up and nearly whines at how sexy Louis looks when he’s smirking.

“I, uh. Could I possibly give you my paper Wednesday?”

The smirk falls off Mr. Tomlinson’s face, mouth twisting into more of a frown. “And why would you need to do that, Harry? You had all weekend to work on it.”

Definitely dying inside, then. Harry has worked so hard not to disappoint him this past month and now he’s fucked that all up. “Yeah, uh, I had to work basically all weekend. So I couldn’t write it. Nevermind.” Harry turns to leave, swallowing the lump in his throat. “I’ll just. Go. Sorry for wasting your time.”

A hand reaches out to turn him around, Harry continuing to stare at the ground. “Hey, you’ve always handed your stuff in on time before. I don’t see a reason why I can’t allow you an extra day. But that’s it. I want it in my office tomorrow.”

Harry looks up, nodding his head so fast he probably looks like a cartoon character. “Of course, yeah. Of course. I’ll get it done tonight. Thank you so much, Mr. Tomlinson.”

Louis laughs at the silly display and turns back to his desk. “No problem. Now, go. I’ll see you tomorrow, Harry.” The way he says it makes it sound like so much more than just dropping by the office to drop off a paper, causing little butterflies to take off in his stomach.

He nearly trips getting out of the room and once again, he hears a beautiful laugh follow him out. Now he’s going to have to try extra hard on his paper to make up for embarrassing himself in front of Mr. Tomlinson _again._

***

It’s nearing ten at night and Harry has been working on his paper for the last two hours straight. He really wants to take a break but the guilt of waiting so long to start is eating at him. It was an accident, really.

His photography teacher assigned a ridiculously difficult assignment for Wednesday and it had taken Harry a couple of hours to finish it. Then he accidently fell asleep from the late night at work and the library, only waking up when Liam and Sophia came home for a late dinner.

Now it’s been two hours and Harry has very little to show for it. He keeps dozing off as he writes, the words on the screen blurring together and he’s on his third cup of coffee. He doesn’t even like coffee but it’s the only thing giving him the (little) energy to finish up this paper before his exhaustion can fully kick in.

He’s just beginning to talk about Beatrice and Benedick confessing their love for each other when moans start to come through the wall. Damn it. He just had to choose to stay at Liam’s the one night Liam and Sophia decide to go at it.

He goes back to his work, trying desperately to focus on his paper and not the sounds coming through the wall. As much as he loves those two, there are just some things he doesn’t want to know.

The next few minutes are agonizing and he’s pretty sure he’s not managed more than a few sentences. He digs through his bag and pulls out some headphones, putting on some music just loud enough that he can’t hear them anymore.

He should probably ask Perrie if he can stay over tomorrow. She’s been really sweet about letting Harry stay over more even though, more often than not, Zayn is over as well. The two of them have come into a sort of friendship, going between talking about comic books and art.

There’s even been a few times Zayn has been nice enough to help Harry when he needs it. As it turns out, Zayn is also very passionate about English, which is honestly probably most of the reason Harry has continued to do so well.

Harry finally finishes his paper at nearly eleven and rolls over, grateful to be sleeping in a bed tonight.

***

Harry only makes a slight idiot of himself when he goes to Mr. Tomlinson’s office the next day. He manages to not trip on the way in but makes up for it by smacking his head on the desk when he leans down to get his paper out of his bag.

Louis seems to find it mildly amusing, muffling his laughter with the back of his hand. Harry tries to glare at him but honestly, he looks so damn pretty when he’s like this that Harry couldn’t get mad even if he wanted to.

He finds his paper easily enough, having come straight from the library, and hands it over only slightly shaking. “Thanks again for letting me hand this in late, Mr. Tomlinson. I really am sorry about that.”

“Don’t worry about it too much, Harry. I wasn’t really going to look these over till tonight anyways.” He makes a shushing sound, complete with a finger over his mouth and his crinkly eyed smile. Honestly, he could’ve just said ‘don’t tell anyone’ and saved Harry the heart attack.

“Alright, well, I should probably go. I’ve got art pretty soon.”

“The eleven am lecture with Malik?” Harry’s eyes widen and his mouth drops.

“Yeah, how did-. How did you know that?”

“There aren’t a lot of art classes on Tuesdays, are there?” He shrugs like it’s nothing and sets Harry’s paper on top of a stack on the corner of his desk. There are in fact, three art lectures on Tuesday at eleven, so, what? “Now, off you go. I know Malik hates late students as much as I do.”

“Are you guys like, friends? Or something?”

“Or something.” he smirks “Now, get to class young man. Wouldn’t want you getting in trouble, would we?” He winks at Harry, laughing as he blushes and all but runs to get out of there. What the hell was that?

***

Friday comes around and Harry is once again nearly late. He slides in his seat and promptly drops his head on the desk. Work was even later last night and after finishing his assignments he managed to get all of three hours of sleep.

Liam pushes at his arm, shaking him around in an attempt to get him up. Harry groans in response and swats at him, managing to get a few hits in.

“Mr. Tomlinson is here.” Liam whispers in his ear. Harry drags his head up to rest on his arms to make it look like he’s somewhat paying attention instead of fighting off sleep.

Harry dozes off several times during class, earning random pokes in the side and kicks to the shin from Liam. Before he knows it, it’s nearing the end of class and Mr. Tomlinson is handing back their paper from earlier this week.

Harry sits up and tries, once again, to look like he was paying attention as Liam gets his paper back. He must have done well, judging by the small smile on his face. His attention is brought back to Mr. Tomlinson when he clears his throat.

“Harry, mind seeing me after class for just a few minutes? I’d like to talk to you about your paper.” Harry gulps and nods, not trusting himself to speak.

The teacher finishes up handing back the class and giving a short summary of the material. Harry doesn’t bother paying attention, too worried about what he did wrong. Sure, it was a little rushed, but he thought he did pretty good on it.

The class finishes up with a reassurance that they’ll be having a more in depth discussion on Monday.

Harry wills himself to calm down and heads up to where Mr. Tomlinson is going through some of the papers on his desk.

“You, er, wanted to see me about my paper, sir?” Harry keeps his eyes down, partly from exhaustion, partly from embarrassment.

“Chin up, Harry, your paper was fine.” Oh. What?

“Then why did you-.”

“Your paper was fine, yes. But I did have a question about some of the content.” Now Harry’s really confused. If it was fine then why are there questions?

“Like what, sir?”

“Drop the ‘sir’, you’re not in trouble.” Harry mumbles a ‘sorry’ an runs his hand through his hair. Mr. Tomlinson says he’s not in trouble but he certainly feels like it. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but Beatrice and Benedick didn’t actually have sex after confessing their love for each other. Well,” he chuckles to himself “I’m sure they did, but it wasn’t in the story we read nor did they have any friends named Perrie.”

He gives Harry a pointed look as confusion clouds his mind. What is he talking about and how the hell does he know Harry knows Perrie?

“I’m sorry, what?”

Louis clears his throat and picks up Harry’s paper, eyes flickering across the page before reading out “Oh my God, they’re fucking again. Why do they have to do this tonight? Note to self: ask Perrie if you can stay over tomorrow.”

Harry’s face is surely going to catch on fire with how hot it feels. Fuck. He actually put that in his english paper. Harry has never been so humiliated in his life. Mr. Tomlinson quirks an eyebrow at him, obviously waiting for an answer.

“I-. I’m sorry, sir. Not sir, shit, sorry. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to put that in there. It’s just… I was staying with a friend. And I accidently heard some stuff and I may have accidently put it in there.” He’s looking down at the floor again, kicking his boot against the floor. “Sorry.”

“I’m not so curious as to what happened, I obviously got it from the paper. I’m more curious about something else. Sorry if it’s not my place but are you okay? Like.. you’re not having issues at home are you?”

Harry blanches at the question. Technically, he’s not having any issues at home, seeing as he doesn’t actually _have_ a home.

“No, sir. I, I’m fine.” Louis looks at him sceptically; Harry doesn’t blame him, he doesn’t even believe himself. Why does this stupid teacher make him stupid. Stupid stupid stupid.

“Okayy” he draws out “Like I said, not my place. But if you need to talk to someone, I’m here, yeah?”

“Thank-. Thank you, Mr. Tomlinson. Can I go now?”

“Yes, Harry. Here’s your paper back. Good job, by the way; just make sure you proofread your papers from now on.”

“Yes, sir. Thank you.” Harry grabs on to his paper for dear life and leaves, for once not tripping over his own feet. Small favor for completely embarrassing himself with his dumb ass writing abilities.

***

Harry is miserable the whole night. The three hours of sleep from the night before is just not enough and he feels like he’s running on sheer willpower alone.

He manages not to drop any trays this time but his boss still seems to be mad at him because he’s being put on dish duty. Again. Harry doesn’t usually mind helping out but when he’s as tired as he is and the only thing he’s doing is repetitive motions over and over for punishment, he gets a little cranky.

Perrie brings him some more dishes, apology clear in her eyes. “Hey, love. Why don’t you come over to mine tonight? You look like you’re about to pass out and I’d feel much better if I drove you home.”

Harry shakes his head and rinses off a plate. “No, you’re supposed to be going soon and I’ve still got another half hour.” He looks at the pile of dishes sadly, noting just how many there are. “Well, probably closer to an hour. You go ahead, I’ll go home with Matt tonight.”

Perrie shakes her head, small smile on her lips. “Nope. You’re coming home with me tonight. No arguing. Your bags are in the back, yeah? I’ll go take them out to the car for you.”

“Thanks, Perrie. Means a lot.” She gives him a hug and heads off to the back to get his stuff.

Forty five minutes later and Harry and Perrie are headed home.

Fifteen more and Harry is face down on the bed, dead to the world.

***

Harry wakes up to a door slamming and a couple of voices. He groans and rolls over, reaching for his phone, thankful he had enough sense to charge it before passing out.

Two pm, great.

He shoots straight out of bed and shouts a “Fuck!”. He was supposed to be at work over three hours ago. Shit.

“Pez? Perrie!” he yells, stuffing his legs into some jeans and searching for a shirt. “Perrie?! Can you drive me to work? God, I’m so fucking late, James is going to kill me!” He grins in triumph as he finds a shirt suitable enough for work, grabs his phone and wallet and heads out the door.

He’s nearly to the living room with his shirt tangled around his head when he hears the same voices that woke him up. He know those voices, fuck. His head snaps to the source so quickly he smacks his head into the wall and falls on his ass. Why does this keep happening? Mr. Tomlinson probably thinks he’s a massive klutz by now. What the hell is he doing here anyway?

“Shit! Harry! Are you okay, love?” Perrie comes running out of the kitchen to where he is, inspecting his face for any marks after he finally gets his shirt straightened out.

“I’m okay, yeah, just forgot where the wall was.” He smiles sheepishly at her, earning a smile in return. “Can you take me to work, please? I’m super late and I’ll be lucky if James doesn’t fire me.”

“I called Tom this morning and had him take your shift. He seemed just as glad to help you as he was to take the hours. You’ve been working so much lately, I’m surprised you can even stay awake.” Harry blushes and rubs at his face, still sore from smacking into the wall.

“Yeah, I know. I just wanted to be able to save up quicker. I’m tired of feeling like a burden.” It’s true at any rate. He’s been staying with his friends for nearly four months now and he’s just ready to have his own place. “A few more weeks and my tuition will be paid off so I should actually be able to start saving for a flat pretty soon.” He whispers the last part, suddenly aware of the two sets of eyes staring at them.  
“That’s lovely, Harry. I’m so proud of you.” She kisses him on the forehead and helps him up. “Are you going to be staying here tonight? I can make dinner.”

“If you don’t mind. Liam and Sophia are doing date night again and I don’t want to be there for the aftermath.” he shudders at the thought of having to listen to them have sex again “Niall’s throwing a party and I don’t really want to be there either. I’ll make dinner, though, don’t worry about that.”

The afternoon flies by quite quickly and honestly, Harry feels a bit weird. This is the first day in literally months that he’s had a free day and he’s a bit lost. There is an English assignment he could be working on but it seems like it would be trying too hard to work on it while Mr. Tomlinson is here.

Well, Louis, as he insists on being called. Said it’s too weird to hear Mr. Tomlinson outside of class. Zayn and Perrie, of course, find Harry’s embarrassment just as amusing as Louis does and before he knows it, the three of them are all laughing and teasing him.

Harry pouts, bottom lip stuck all the way out, and Louis reaches over to ruffle his hair. Harry tries to stay mad, he does, but his heart leaps into his throat and he can barely hold back the smile that breaks out.

More than a few times, Harry swears that Louis is flirting with him but then he turns around and will be just as flirtatious with Zayn. It’s really odd to see the way Perrie reacts, or rather, the way she doesn’t react. She explained to Harry before that she and Zayn have an open relationship and she doesn’t mind that he sleeps with another person even though she doesn’t.

Looking at them now, Harry’s curious as to whether or not Louis is the other person that Zayn sleeps with. Images of Zayn and Louis _together_ come to mind and Harry gets up to make dinner before any unwanted problems arise.

By the time the food is ready, most of the images are gone and Harry feels pretty confident about being in the presence of Louis and Zayn without getting a boner.

Zayn and Perrie both compliment the food like normal people but Louis. Jesus Christ. Louis honest to God _moans_ around his forkful of pasta. There’s sauce still on his lips and Harry stares, watching as his tongue swipes out to get the extra.

“Christ, Harry. This is amazing. Where did you learn to cook like this?” His lips turn up into a smirk and Harry realizes that he was still staring at them. Fuck.

“Well, you know, I _do_ work at a restaurant. I should be able to cook, don’t you think?” He feels a little like dying inside at the maintained eye contact but he refuses to back down. It’s not often that he’ll get a chance to flirt with his teacher and not feel bad about it.

“So you’re a cook, then? That’s pretty awesome. I always said there’s no better man than a man who can cook.” His smile reaches his eyes, showing off his teeth. Fuck. Is there anything wrong with him? Even his teeth are perfect.

“No.” he mumbles. “I’m just a waiter. Taught myself how to cook.” The smile doesn’t fall off Louis’ face but he nods his head in understanding.

“Nothing wrong with that. You still know how to cook and that’s all that matters.” This is one of those times he’s sure that Louis is flirting with him and he doesn’t know what to do.

A foot kicks him under the table and Harry manages not to flinch too hard, turning and looking at Perrie. Her and Zayn have identical expressions, knowing smiles with an eyebrow raised. He quickly looks down at his plate and finishes off the pasta.

Louis and Zayn get ready to leave as soon as the washing up is done; apparently Saturday night is club night for the two of them. They invited Harry of course but he declined; not sure if it would be appropriate to go drinking with two of his teachers.

Also, Harry absolutely does not trust himself around Louis and alcohol at the same time. He’d probably do something dumb, like try and sleep with him or something.

It’s the first good look Harry’s had of Louis standing since he got here and really, what a shame. Harry couldn’t tell from where Louis was sitting but he’s got on skinny jeans.

They hug his legs tight and show off an ass Harry had no idea was there. Well, Harry was very aware of Louis’ ass from staring at him during class but he had no idea just how _round_ and _big_ it was. He really should wear those more often.

He’s pulled out of his trance then by Perrie telling them goodbye, pulling Zayn in for a hug and a not so chaste kiss. She turns to Louis then, hugging him and kisses him as well. It’s much more chaste but it is on the mouth and Harry is really confused right now.

Is Louis straight? Harry’s been wrong before but he genuinely thought there might have been some interest between him and Louis.

They leave and Harry makes his excuses to go and finally work on his assignment.

It hasn’t been too bad of a day but the lack of sleep has caught up with him and he’s in bed and asleep by ten thirty.

***

The rest of October is a blur. Harry is constantly fighting sleep and has made rounds of staying at nearly everyone’s place.

Perrie’s place has become Harry’s safe haven for the weekends. He may or may not have asked for morning shifts on Saturdays, despite the fact that he works late on Fridays and gets basically no sleep. That, of course, has nothing to do with the fact that Louis comes over every Saturday for a few hours before leaving with Zayn.

If it weren’t for Zayn and Louis being Mr. Malik and Mr. Tomlinson Harry would probably say they’re all friends. So, really, Harry’s just hanging out with his teachers out of class along with one of his best friends.

There’s been a bit of improvement on the whole ‘flirting with his teacher’ thing. Perrie and Zayn have both given him crap and asked so many questions Harry has started to feel a little violated.

Last weekend was the worst. Harry was working on a really difficult assignment for English when Louis showed up.

After saying hello to Harry, he sat down next to him on the couch and proceeded to chat with Zayn. Between Louis occasionally bumping legs with him and the difficulty of the work, Harry pretty much just stared at the text and his paper with a frown on his face, trying to decipher just what the hell was going on.

After glaring at his text for a solid ten minutes, Louis leans over, arms pressed together as he reads over what Harry has written and starts helping him. They spend the next hour crowded in each other’s space and discussing the assignment before Harry has to get up to make dinner.

Louis still compliments his food every week, often coupled with moans and approving nods of the head. Harry’s even starting looking up new recipes to try, pointedly ignoring any and all comments from Perrie and Zayn.

But that was last week and this week, Harry wants nothing more than to sleep for a month. He drags himself into Perrie’s flat, kicking his shoes off and heads to the couch where he flops face first and falls asleep nearly immediately.

At some point, there’s a voice that tries to wake him but he’s too tired to move, let alone pay attention. The person shifts him so he’s on his side and puts his head in their lap, running their hand through his hair. He falls back asleep, more content and comfortable than he’s been in a long time.

***

The first thing he notices when he wakes up is that his face is really warm. His pillow is a lot firmer than usual and it smells really good. Like, _really good._ Like spice and vanilla. He inhales deeply, nuzzling further into his pillow. Something scratches against his cheek and he blinks his eyes open.

There’s something black in front of him, which is weird enough, but when he looks up he sees Louis. Harry looks around, trying to figure out where the hell he is, and notices that he’s laying on Louis’ lap with one of his hands resting on Harry’s head while he sits and talks to Zayn and Perrie like nothing is out of the ordinary.

Holy shit. Harry is _laying in Louis’ lap._

He jolts so hard he falls off the couch and smacks his head on the floor. “Fuck!” he yells, cradling the back of his head and groaning into his elbow.

“Shit. You alright, Harry?” Louis is down next to him on the floor, trying to remove Harry’s hand from his head. “C’mon, Haz, let me take a look.” That’s just not fair. Since when did Harry give him permission to call him that? He must have heard Perrie or Zayn use that name and automatically assume it was alright.

His arms slacken and Louis’ fingers flit through his hair. So soft and light Harry can almost pretend they’re not there.

“There you go, no blood. You’ll probably have a nasty bump there later, though.” He leans forward and kisses the spot he was just checking, ruffling Harry’s hair for good measure after.

Louis will definitely be the death of him. Maybe it was just genuine concern and relief that he wouldn’t have to ditch his club night with Zayn to take Harry to the hospital. Although, he keeps going the way he is and Harry will need a hospital regardless.

“What time is it?” he mumbles, hoping his face isn’t near as red as he thinks it is.

“Nearly six sleepy head. Dinner’s in the oven, just about ready.” Great, Harry’s the one who’s supposed to make dinner. Now he’s gone and messed it up and the guilt eats at him. That’s one of the only ways Harry can make up for intruding all the time and now that Perrie’s done it, the guilt eats at him and he feels like shit.

“I, uh, I’m not hungry. I’ve got some work to do.” his eyes flicker back and forth between his teachers guiltily, neither of them assigned work for the weekend and they know it, and heads back to the room. Once he’s in and laying on the bed, he remembers that he left his bags out in the living room.

So now he’s going to look like an ass as well because there is no way in hell Harry is going to go back out there until Zayn and Louis leave. He passes the time scrolling through his phone and ignoring the rumbling of his stomach.

Finally, mercifully, Harry hears the front door shut and, to his complete horror, Perrie yells out “They’re gone, Haz! You can come out now!”

Harry drags himself out his room and makes his way to the kitchen where Perrie already has a plate full of food waiting for him.

“Thanks, Pez.”

“No problem. So, still gonna tell me you’re not crushing on your teacher?”

Harry groans and runs a hand through his hair. “It sounds so sordid when you say it like that. It’s not like I’m in high school or anything. There’s nothing illegal about it.”

“Didn’t say there was, babe. So that’s a yes, then?” He takes a couple more bites trying to figure out a good way to deny it. By the time he’s come up with it though, it’s been way too long to believe, so he just nods his head and mumbles a “yeah” into his fork.

“Thought so. You’re usually not so clumsy. Also, the switching shifts so you’re here when he is, even though it nearly kills you, kind of gave it away.”

“It’s nice to have Saturday nights free, though.” It really is. Even if he’s dead on his feet most of the day, he can go to bed whenever he wants and gets a decent sleep before work on Sunday.

“You never go out on Saturdays. You should do it. Call up your friends, Niall and Liam, and go out. Or just go by yourself, you _need_ to get out, love. It’s not good for you to do nothing but work and study all the time.”

“I’m fine, Pez. Besides, you know I need the money and I can’t fuck school up by getting behind.” he argues. Sure, he’d love to go out, but that’s just not possible. He really can’t afford to lose any hours at work any less than he can afford for his grades to slip.

“No. No arguments this time. You’ll be fine for one night.”

“Pez-.”

“Nope, Harry, I’m kicking you out for tonight. You’ve got thirty minutes to get ready then you’re not allowed back till after midnight.”

“Perrie, please.” Harry whines. This is not fair.

“No. Now go. Thirty minutes and you’re out for a night of fun.”

Harry tries to argue but she cuts him off again.

“Either you go by yourself or I’ll drag you out and lock the door.” She grabs his empty plate and turns, effectively ending the conversation.

Harry groans and pushes back from the table and pouts to the bedroom, dragging his feet the whole way.

After he’s got on his tightest skinny jeans and a button down, leaving the top four undone, he takes a good look at himself in the mirror. It’s not too bad, he looks rather nice except for how his curls refuse to stay out of his face. He walks over to his bag and digs around until he finds a scarf to push back his hair. Much better.

He grabs his wallet and his phone, stopping by Perrie to give her a hug before he goes.

“Thanks, Pez. I’ll be back later.” She squeezes him tight in response before shooing him away.

***

Harry is definitely going to have to remember to thank Perrie later. He found a club easily enough, there was one a couple of blocks down from Perrie’s place, and it’s been a relief the entire time he’s been in. He’s not completely pissed but he’s definitely had more than enough to really help him loosen up and go dance.

He’s in the middle of thinking he’ll probably have to work on Monday to make up for the money he’s spent tonight when he sees what is either the absolute worst or best thing to ever happen to him.

On the other side of the club, in the back corner, are Zayn and Louis. He really shouldn’t be surprised, what with it being their night and this particular club _is_ close to Perrie’s flat. He’s surprised to see them like this, though. Especially like this.

Louis is leaned completely into Zayn, whispering into his ear, biting and licking at the lobe while Louis is quite obviously doing something to his dick.

Zayn turns then to connect their mouths and the way Louis instantly responds to it, opening his mouth and tongue delving right in, makes it more than clear that this isn’t the first time.

Harry heads back over to the bar and orders three more shots. Okay, so Louis _isn’t_ straight and is apparently the person Zayn has been sleeping with. His heart drops at the thought, his chances of being with Louis now even smaller.

The bartender brings his shots then and he downs them quickly, one after the other.

He heads back over by his teachers, finding a spot on the dance floor that gives him a good view of what’s happening. As much as he’d like to feel bad about it, this _is_ quite possibly one of the hottest things he’s ever seen.

Louis has moved on to sucking on Zayn’s neck with his hand actually in his jeans, pulling him off. Harry stills his movements and watches in fascination as Zayn gets closer. He throws his head back, mouth open wide, just as someone slams into Harry’s back, making him trip and fall on his ass.

He’s rubbing his bum, trying to soothe the ache and cussing out whoever bumped him when he hears the one voice he’d really rather not right now.

“Harry?” Oh God. This is terrible. This is it, Harry’s going to die of embarrassment and his last moments will have been watching Zayn get off. Okay, so not the worst way to go but if he had his choice he’d have rathered it been Louis.

He looks up, surprise clear on his face. “Oops?”

“Hi there. Need some help?” His eyes are crinkled again, smile wide and Harry has just enough alcohol in him to not care too much about embarrassing the shit out of himself.

“Depends. You offering?” Wow, brilliant. Jesus he’s dumb.

Louis laughs, shaking his head and sticking out a hand to help him up. Harry eyes the hand, pretty sure it’s the one that was down Zayn’s pants. He shrugs and grabs it anyway, if anything he can tell Perrie that he’s basically touched Zayn’s dick.

Not that he _would_ but the thought of the look on her face if he did sends him into a fit of giggles.

“What’s so funny?”

Harry can’t stop giggling even as Louis leads him over to the booth where Zayn is, still looking fucked out from his orgasm. He croaks out a “hey” as Harry slides in next to him.

“You okay there, Harry?” He manages to stop laughing and curls up into Louis’ side. Definitely more drunk than he realized then, he’d never be bold enough to do that sober.

“Yeah, I’m good. Tired. Been a while since I’ve gone out.” Louis lets his arm fall off the back of the booth to rest on Harry’s shoulders.

“You’re always tired, Haz. Don’t you ever sleep? I mean, besides passing out on the couch where others usually sit.” Harry whines, he had almost forgotten about that, but now that Louis has brought it up he feels the embarrassment all over again.

“Sorry bout that. Couldn’t help it. Late night and rough morning. Usually make it to the bed at least.” His words are coming out slurred and he’s starting to drift off, the scent of vanilla and spice relaxing him. The thought that he was smelling Louis earlier hits him and he smiles. Louis smells nice.

“Come on sleepy head, let’s get you home.”

“Nope. No home for Hazza. I’ll stay right here.” He snuggles into Louis’ neck and inhales deep. Definitely relaxing. “You’re comfy. And you smell good. Can I sleep on you?”

“Haz, what do you mean no home for you?” Harry throws his arm around Louis’ waist as his head drops down more onto his chest. “Harry.” Louis lifts his head so they’re eye to eye, waiting for Harry to actually open his.

“You have really pretty eyes, Lou.” Even through his sleep-slash-drunken haze he can make out how creepy that is. Harry silently vows to never drink again.

“Harry. What do you mean no home for you?” He repeats, voice stern like it gets when someone gets in trouble in class. Harry’s mind drifts, imagining Louis telling him off and punishing him.

“Am I in trouble, Mr. Tomlinson? Are you going to punish me?” Louis eyes darken a bit and Zayn laughs behind him, not even bothering trying to cover it up.

“Harry, tell me.” Right.

“No home for Hazza. Hazza doesn’t have a home. Just kind of stays with friends. Perrie’s a friend.” Louis looks over at Zayn, Harry following his gaze and sees him shrug. What are they talking about? It’s rude to have silent conversations about people that are right there.

“Can I sleep now, Lou?” _Christ_ , Harry has had way too much to drink tonight.

“Yeah, let’s get you in a bed.” He slides out of the booth, letting Harry lean on him the whole way out the door.

“Wait.” Harry stops dead in his tracks, nearly falling over from the lack of support from Louis. “Is it midnight yet? Pez says I can’t come back till midnight. Locked me out and everything.”

Louis puts him in his car, buckling his seatbelt for him. “I’m gonna take you back to my place, okay? You can sleep there.”

Harry’s eyes light up at the idea of seeing Louis’ place. “Can I sleep with you, Lou? Can I? Are we gonna sleep in your bed?”

Louis groans and runs a hand through his hair. “No, Haz. We’re not sleeping together. That would be wildly inappropriate for many reasons.”

“Aww. But I wanna sleep with you.” Harry pouts but lets it go, staring out the window and trying not to fall asleep.

Before he knows it, Louis is dragging him out of the car and up the stairs to his flat. Harry tries to hold his own weight but the alcohol and sleep are making it difficult. Louis doesn’t seem to mind, though and he _is_ quite comfortable so Harry just lets it be.

A couple of minutes later and Louis is laying him down on a bed. These sheets smell like laundry detergent and are cold. Harry doesn’t like it.

“Sleep with me, Lou. This bed is too cold.” He reaches up and makes grabby hands at Louis trying to get him to lay down. He shakes his head though so Harry leans up and wraps his arms around his neck, dragging him down and making him fall on top of Harry. “Much better.”

“No, Harry. Go to sleep.” He gets up and walks to the door, looking back with a “Night, Haz.” Harry’s asleep in minutes.

 

***

 

Harry’s head is pounding and he’s sweating. He’s wrapped up tight in a blanket with all his clothes on, completely confused as to where he is. He blinks and looks around trying to figure out how he got here and where exactly ‘here’ is.

He’s pretty sure he didn’t hook up with anyone but he did get rather drunk so there’s no telling. Whoever it was is quite nice though, leaving some painkillers and some water by his bed. Or, at least, he hopes they’re painkillers.

Harry’s head throbs again as he sits up and he decides to take his chances. What’s the worst that could happen, right?

The smell of food makes it’s way to Harry and his stomach growls loudly in response. Time to get up and face the music. He grabs his phone off the nightstand along with the empty cup and heads out to find the kitchen.

The flat is lovely, decorated with pictures of four little girls and a woman who is probably their mum. He’s standing there admiring them, wondering just what the hell he got himself into if this guy is married, when a voice sounds from behind him, making him jump and nearly drop the glass.

“It’s rude to snoop, you know.”

Fuck. He came home with Louis last night. How in the hell did that even happen?

“Sorry, just. Admiring the pictures. They’re very nice, glad to see the photographer did these girls justice.”

Louis smiles bright and wide, obviously pleased with Harry’s opinion. “Thanks, it’s my mum and sisters, by the way.”

Good to know. At least they’re not his wife and kids.

“I’m sorry but what the hell am I doing here? We didn’t-. We didn’t have sex, did we?” Not that it would be a bad thing, but still. This is kind of a need-to-know thing.

“No, we didn’t.” Honestly, Harry’s not sure if he’s relieved or disappointed. Sure, he didn’t sleep with Louis but that also means _he didn’t sleep with Louis._

“Breakfast?” Harry nods and follows Louis into the kitchen.

“Hey, Haz? If I asked you something would you be honest with me?” Like that’s not frightening. Fuck. Harry must have really made an ass of himself last night.

“Sure, I guess.” He plates some eggs and bacon

“Do you-? Where do-?” Louis stutters and now Harry is really confused. He’s never seen his teacher look so uncomfortable and unsure of himself. “Where do you live?”

Oh, fuck. “Bit early to be asking that, yeah? Should at least ask me out on a date first.” Double fuck. Now he can add awkwardly hitting on his teacher after waking up with no recollection of how he got there to his list of things he never wants to do again.

“Harry, I’m being serious.” his voice is stern again and Harry distinctly remembers asking Louis if he was going to punish him last night. Hopefully, Louis doesn’t remember that.

“I live with Liam.” It’s a simple enough answer, plenty of uni students room with their friends.

“Except for when you stay with Perrie on the weekends?”

“Yeah, I like spending the weekend there. She lives a lot closer to work so I can get more sleep after shifts on Friday-” not a lie “-and since it’s just me and her Saturday nights it’s rather relaxing.” Also not a lie. Harry is good at this whole “honesty” thing. A pro.

“So, where do you stay on… Sundays?” Louis pauses and takes a sip of the tea in front of him, face scrunched like he’s trying to think of something. “And Thursdays.” he finally decides. “Where do you stay then?”

Well, that was unexpected. Shit. So much for honesty. “I told you I live with Liam.”

“Yeah and I’m saying that’s shit. He’s always way earlier than you and don’t think I haven’t noticed you sprinting across campus in the mornings. The direction you come from is _on_ campus, not off.” Shit, shit. Fuck, this is embarrassing.

“Well, I, uh, like to get to campus early? Sometimes I’ll-”

“Harry, cut the bullshit.” his mouth snaps shut and he lowers his eyes. Louis has to think he’s pathetic right about now. “You told me last night you didn’t have a home. So, were you lying then or are you lying now?”

“Now.” Harry mumbles.

“So, tell me. Where do you stay on Sundays and Thursdays? What about the rest of the week?” There must be something wrong with Harry. Even now, when Mr. Tomlinson (and he’s being Mr. Tomlinson right now, not Louis) is being so stern with him and making him feel like he’s completely let him down, Harry is getting a little hard. It’s the power that just radiates off Louis. It may or may not be a thing for Harry.

“I stay at Niall’s sometimes. Or someone from work.” His voice is soft but it carries through the quiet and over to Louis.

“And the other days?” Louis prompts, the sternness is still there, but his voice is much gentler. His eyes show concern and not pity and that’s what makes Harry be honest instead of making up a lie.

“The library.” Louis’ eyes widen in shock and Harry drops his own, not wanting to see the look on his face.

“You-. You can’t be _serious_ Harry. What the fuck?”

“Why are you mad? It’s not your decision, it’s mine.” Louis groans, running his hands over his face.

“I know that. I just-. I wish you would have said something. There are so many people that are willing to help. You didn’t have to stay in the _library_ for fucks sake.”

“I know that. Everyone I’ve stayed with has offered for me to stay with them. I just don’t want to.” Louis is staring at him now, disbelief clear in those beautiful eyes. “I need the money to pay my tuition and save for a place of my own. I can’t afford to pay rent, too.”

Louis nods his head, fingers pressed into his temples as he thinks. “How much do you work?”

“Wednesday to Sunday.” Harry answers without thinking.

“Okay. And what hours do you work?” Why the hell does he even want to know? This makes no sense. Not really.

“I usually work two to twelve. Sometimes later if something goes wrong.” Louis gapes at him, honest to god fish mouthing.

He finally gets it together, breathing out in a long exhale. “Christ. So you work ten hours five days a week, on top of classes and school work with no days off?”

“Yeah. So? I’m doing fine in all my classes and work is going great. It’s busy season so I’m making a lot of tips.” Honestly, Louis is acting like someone died. It’s really not that bad.

“That’s. Harry-.” Seriously, this is probably the most Mr. Tomlinson has ever fumbled over his words. “I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. I just think you’d probably be better off with some stability. Some place you can come home to every night instead of bouncing around or going to the _library_ of all places.”

Harry’s about to respond when a soft mewing catches his attention followed by something rubbing against his leg. He looks down and sees a grey long haired cat staring up at him. “Aww!” He coos. He leans down to scoop the cat up, scratching behind it’s ears as he turns to look at Louis. “I didn’t know you had a cat.”

Louis shifts a bit on his feet, obviously unhappy with their conversation being interrupted. “Yeah, well, I forget sometimes. Honestly, she hates me and hardly ever shows her face unless she wants food.”

She purrs loudly as she nuzzles into Harry’s hand. “I think she’s adorable. What’s your name, sweetie?”

Louis snorts at the ridiculousness before answering for her. “Her name is Duchess. Mostly I just call her Your Highness or whatever, honestly she’s such a snob.”

“That’s just mean.” Harry coos at her. She responds by nuzzling at his face and Harry laughs, giving her a kiss on her forehead.

“So.” Louis clears his throat. “I know I’m overstepping here but just.. just hear me out, okay?”

Harry eyes him warily as he continues to pet at Duchess. Her fur is so soft and it’s relaxing to just focus on her. “Okay.”

“You should live with me.” Harry stops his movements, staring open mouthed at his teacher. Live with him? What the hell? Sure, it’d be nice to see his teacher more, the time they spend together is more than Harry could hope for but this.. this feels like it’d be taking advantage.

Also, it feels a bit like Louis is pitying him, which, no. Just. That’s not right.

Duchess makes an unhappy noise and nudges at Harry’s hand until he resumes petting her.

“That’s a bit unethical, don’t you think?” Because of course that’s all Harry can think of that doesn’t sound stupid or creepy or likely to get him thrown out of Louis’ flat.

“A bit, yeah. But I mean, it’d just be for stability. Give you a place to come home to and not worry about where you’re staying. It’d be less stress for you.” It would be nice to have someplace to just come home to. And he could stop carrying around his extra bag, possibly get some more clothes with the little money he’s managed to put aside. It really would be nice. But still.

“I don’t think it’s right. I really shouldn’t.” his voice wavers, not quite up to putting up the fight his brain knows he should.

Louis frowns at the dismissal but quickly smiles again as Duchess rubs her face onto Harry’s cheek. “Oh, come on! Duchess loves you! You can’t leave now, she’ll be heartbroken!”

“Louis, please, a cat isn’t-.”

“Do it for Duchess, Harry! She literally hates everyone but Zayn. And now you! You don’t seem to be the kind of person to take away a poor cat’s new friend.” His tone turns stern and he faces Harry, shoulders squared and hands on his hips. His eyes take on a new determination and his chin juts out. Harry squirms a little in his seat, the sudden shift in Louis causing a very inconvenient reaction.

“You aren’t one to be so cruel to animals are you? Are you going to walk out of here, never to return and leave Duchess to wallow in her loneliness? Leave such a beautiful, innocent kitty to fend for herself in this lonely world?”

Harry starts laughing then, the silliness of the situation finally too much to handle. “I think she’ll be fine, Mr. Tomlinson.” Damn it. Louis raises his eyebrow questioningly, quite aware that something changed in Harry’s mind. He’s been rather good at only calling him that during class. Now that’s twice in as many days that he’s fucked up, both times when Louis was being stern with him.

Louis stalks toward him and leans down to whisper in his ear. “I really don’t think you understand, _Mr. Styles._ ” Fuck, the way he says that sends shivers down Harry’s spine. His throat bobs tightly as Mr. Tomlinson’s breath ghosts over his ear. “Your presence is needed here and I’d much rather you acknowledge that this is _not_ a request.”

He leans back smirking and resting against the counter, watching as Harry fights the blush on his face and wills himself not to get hard. Duchess rubs against his arm causing him to jerk and shake back into focus. “Oh- Okay.” Harry croaks out.

He clears his throat a bit awkwardly and gets up and puts his empty plate in the sink before heading back to the bedroom. Just as he’s to the doorway he turns and looks at Louis, completely relaxed against the counter and sipping at his tea, all traces of Mr. Tomlinson gone but a determined look still in his eye.

“Just so we’re clear. I’m staying for Duchess. It really would be a shame to leave her all alone.” Louis laughs that same beautiful laugh at him as he practically skips down the hallway. At least this time, Louis was laughing _because_ of him and not _at_ him.

***

“Hey, Louis?” Harry calls out. It’d been only twenty minutes since their conversation in the kitchen and Harry had just noticed that he had all of an hour to get to work.

“In here!” Harry follows the sound into the living room where Louis is lounging on the couch watching some cooking show.

“I was just wondering if you could give me a ride to Perrie’s. I’d take the bus, but honestly, I have no idea where we’re at and I’m already running late for work.”

“Hmm?” Louis throws his head back against the couch to stare upside down at him, hair flopping in his face and a sliver of collarbone peeking through the top of his shirt. “Oh, yeah. I can take you. To Perrie’s, not work. I talked to her this morning before you woke up and she said she’d cover your shift.”

“What?!” That’s just not fair! That’s twice now that Harry’s had to have someone cover. Although. He was going to cut his hours back soon anyway, so. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. Things were finally looking up on the work front. “You can’t just tell someone else to work for me. Honestly.”

“Sorry, Harry. Perrie actually suggested it when I called to let her know you weren’t dead and you were exhausted so I figured you could use the break.” The sincerity of the statement catches him off guard and Harry has to get his brain back under control. Louis was actually worried about him. Sort of.

“Fine. Can we go now? I have some work to do and I’d rather get started on it early.” Honestly, if he would have known Photography was going to have so many projects that didn’t actually involve, well, photography, he probably would’ve chosen a different course.

“Sure.” Louis smiles and stands up, extending his arms above his head in a stretch and showing off just a little bit of his tummy. Harry swallows hard and forces his eyes up to Louis’ face. He cocks his eyebrow when their eyes meet, a bright glint of humour in his eyes. “Let me just change real quick.”

Harry watches as he heads back to his room, jaw dropping when Louis starts pulling off his shirt before he even hits the hallway. Jesus Christ. If living with Louis is going to put him near a casually half naked Louis often, Harry is either going to have a stroke or need to take several cold showers a day.

His back is just as tan as the rest of him, muscles stretched and pulled tight as his arms extend over his head. He turns to look at Harry, shirt hanging loosely by his side. Harry can’t help but stare, running his eyes all over Louis. He’s got a chest tattoo, script across the top that says ‘it is what it is’ and several down his right arm including a stag and a bird. His chest is toned and there’s just a hint of a pudge above his waistline. Harry can’t decide if he wants to mark it up or use it as a pillow. Preferably both.

“I’ll just be a minute, don’t go anywhere.” Harry’s eyes are drawn back to his face, a smirk firmly in place, and Harry feels his ears go hot. Louis winks at him then and turns to his room.

Cold showers then. Definitely lots of cold showers.

***

“Is that really all you have?”

“Yes, that’s really all.” Harry slings his bag over his shoulder, ignoring the look Louis is giving him.

“Well, alright then.” Louis smiles warmly at Harry, running a hand through his hair where it’s fallen in his face. “Home?”

That single word sends a warm feeling through Harry and he smiles back. “Yeah, home.”

***

“I wont be working so much soon.” Harry says as he’s putting on his seatbelt.

“Huh?”

“This morning. You were worried about me working a lot. Well, James just hired a couple new people for the busy season so I have to give up most of my hours.”

“Oh, uh, sorry? I mean, I’m glad you’ll be working less but you really sounded like you needed the hours or whatever.” Louis coughs a little awkwardly, not really sure of what to say. Harry’s just glad he didn’t bring up money.

“Yeah, well, it’ll be nice. I think this is the second free day I’ve had since term started.”

“That... is really sad. Sorry to say.”

“I know. It’s going to be nice, though.” Harry’s thoughts wander to all the free time he’ll get to spend with Louis. Being lazy and watching telly, studying next to him while Louis grades, eating dinner with him every night. Yeah, it’s going to be nice to get some free time.

***

“You what??”

“Shh!! Liam, please! Be quiet will you? It’s honestly not that bad.” Harry looks around the pub checking to make sure nobody is looking their way. They’re at the same one as always, right off campus, where anyone from uni could hear what they’re talking about.

“Yeah.” Niall speaks up, wiping some mustard off his mouth. “Now Harry can finally bone Mr. Tomlinson.”

Liam chokes on his mouth full of burger, slapping his chest in an attempt to clear it. “I’m just saying. Isn’t it kind of weird?”

“Yeah, I mean, a little. Especially coming to class. Like, obviously it’d be weird showing up together so he waits around in his office.”

“I noticed that. He did come in a bit later than usual today.” Harry smiles a little thinking of the ride to school that morning.

It had been a little awkward at first, Harry had been insistent on taking the bus, but Louis had told him to quit being dumb and to get in the damn car. Of course, that awkward moment was followed up by the awkward “we can’t really walk into class together” conversation.

Definitely one of the weirdest Mondays yet.

“So, is this like, going to affect your grade or anything? Like, brownies points for banging the teacher?”

Harry groans loudly and bangs his head on the table. “For God’s sake, Niall. I’m not banging him.”

“But you want to.” Harry smacks his head on the table a few more times, hiding the blush that was creeping up onto his cheeks.

“Okay, okay. We get it, Niall. Harry wants to sleep with Mr. Tomlinson. Can you shut up so I can finish my food without dying?”

“Do whatever you want, mate. I’m here to see what dear Harold has planned to get into _Louis’_ ” he wiggles his eyebrows suggestively “pants.”

Harry groans and smacks his head again, regretting ever considering Niall a friend. “I’m just going to go. I only told you guys so you wouldn’t flip shit when I didn’t show up for a week.”

They laugh at him as he walks away, Niall calling out a “get in!” and Harry flips him off. He seriously needs new friends.

***

The next couple of weeks fly by and before he knows it, it’s December.

Living with Louis has been... interesting. To say the least. Louis gets done with classes about the same time as Harry so they spend the hours before Harry goes to work lazing around the flat either working on assignments (Harry) or marking and planning the next lesson (Louis).

Late Friday night the first week, Harry has just gotten home and kicked off his shoes, intending to go straight to sleep. When he turns around though, he loses his footing, just managing not to actually fall over at the sight.

Louis is sitting on the couch watching some late night program while eating ice cream. Shirtless.

His spoon stops nearly to his mouth as he notices Harry, eyebrow cocked in amusement. “Alright there, Harry?” A little bit of ice cream falls off his spoon and lands right between his collarbones, sliding down his chest.

Harry follows the trail, wanting nothing more than to lick it off.

“Damn it.” Louis muttered, quickly eating the bit on the spoon an swiping up the trail of ice cream on his chest. He pops the finger in his mouth, sucking on it and hollowing out his cheeks all while staring at Harry.

Harry’s mouth runs dry and his pants grow tighter as Louis continues the, quite unnecessary, assault of his finger. He pulls it out of his mouth with a wet _pop_ , licking his lips as he moans and flutters his eyes shut.

“It’s good, Haz.” his voice just a hint deeper than usual, “Want some?”

Harry shakes his head frantically mumbling out a “No. Uhm, work. Sleep. Uh-, stuff.” before turning and all but running to his room, a quiet chuckle following him. Wonderful. He just made himself sound like a complete dunce.

At least he didn’t run into any walls this time.

***

The next week is filled with a ton of exam prep and work is especially brutal with finishing training the two new people.

Saturday comes as a relief and as soon as he gets into the flat after his shift, he kicks off his shoes and crashes on the couch, ready for some much needed sleep.

Harry wakes up to fingers running through his hair and the smell of spice and vanilla. He snuggles further into the warmth, a sense of deja vu hitting him.

Instead of jolting out of Louis’ lap like last time, he looks up at Louis’, blinking the sleep out of his eyes.

“Wha time issit?” he asks, voice still groggy and rough.

“Just a little after three.” His fingers never stop running through Harry’s hair and before too long he’s nuzzling back down into Louis’ stomach and mumbling “comfy” before falling back asleep.

***

The next time he wakes up, Louis is gone and the couch is cold under his cheek. He gets up and cracks his back, following the smell of food into the kitchen.

Louis is humming softly as he cooking, shaking his ass a little to the beat of whatever song he’s humming.

Harry leans against the wall, admiring how happy he looks and to be quite honest, the way his ass is moving in those skinny jeans. Harry spares a moment to be thankful that Louis doesn’t wear those to teach. There’s no way in hell he’d pass if that happened.

Louis does a little spin in a particularly upbeat part of the song and stops, falling back a little and catching himself on the counter. “Way to be a creeper, Haz.” He smiles and turns back to the stove.

“What’s for dinner, Lou?” Louis turns off the stove then, grabbing a couple of plates.

“Nothing special. Just some fettuccine alfredo and veggies.”

Harry walks over to him and slips his arms around his waist and presses a kiss to the back of his neck. “Thanks, Lou.”

Louis freezes just as Harry realizes what he did and takes a step back. “Sorry.” Harry quickly grabs a plate and a bottle of water before heading out to the couch to eat.

Dinner is not near as awkward as expected; Louis still shoves his toes under Harry’s thighs as he eats, so he counts it as a win.

“I, uh, I finished training this week.” Harry clears his throat and chances a glance at Louis. “So, my hours are officially cut back.” He’s not quite sure why he’s telling Louis this, he has no obligation to. It’s just that he keeps thinking of how worried Louis sounded when Harry told him how much he worked.

Louis offers him a smile, a real genuine smile, that shows in his eyes. “That mean you’re off tomorrow?”

Harry nods, wondering why that’s what sticks out to him.

“Awesome!” Louis claps his hands together, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “We should celebrate!” Before Harry can say anything, he’s up and into the kitchen, returning rather quickly with a bottle of vodka and a couple of shot glasses.

Harry shakes his head slowly, not sure if him and Louis and alcohol is a good combination. Louis pouts, honest to God pouts, and Harry sighs, already accepting that he’ll probably regret something in the morning.

Three shots later and Harry is already feeling it. He really should build up a tolerance.

“We need cookies, Haz!”

“Cookies?”

“Yeah, cookies! They go great with vodka!”

Harry scrunches his face in disgust. “Absolutely not. That is disgusting, Lou.”

“It is not!” Louis pouts and crosses his arms like a three year old. “It is delicious! Especially chocolate chip. Mmm, chocolate chip.” He moans low in his throat and rubs his belly. His tongue comes out to lick his lips, eyes shut at the apparent thought of how delicious it is.

At this point, Harry thinks, he should probably head to bed and call it a night. Instead, he goes to the kitchen to find some cookies and juice for their drinks.

Louis bounces into the kitchen and snatches the cookies out of Harry’s hand. “Thanks, babe.” He kisses Harry’s cheek and slaps him on the bum, laughing all the way to the other room.

Harry stares dumbly at the door for a second before grabbing the juice and some glasses, preparing himself mentally for one hell of a night.

***

It’s only been about an hour since the kitchen incident but it feels more like an eternity. They spent their time rambling on about their friends and family, swapping childhood stories and overall it’s not so bad.

They’ve managed to go through all the cookies (admittedly they were rather good even with the vodka) and another few drinks, Duchess coming out to join them and making herself comfortable on Harry’s lap, by the time Harry manages to fully relax. He’s yet to really make a fool of himself in front of Louis, thankful for small favors.

Eventually they’ve moved on to more relevant and recent topics and Louis brings up Zayn and Perrie.

“Weren’t you supposed to go out with Zayn tonight? Saturdays are your night, right?”

“Oh, yeah! It is, but they had a date tonight. I think they’re getting serious. Zayn told me last week they’re exclusive now so that’s a step in the right direction.” Harry mopes for a few seconds, Perrie didn’t tell _him_ that, the Louis’ words catch up to his drunk slow mind.

“But I thought you and Zayn were fucking.” Louis laughs at that, causing Harry to blush. He hadn’t meant to be so blunt or to say anything, really.  Didn’t really want to bring that back and make things awkward.

“Nah, we haven’t for a couple weeks now.” Harry blushes deeper, mentally smacking himself for bringing it up. Although. Louis isn’t fucking Zayn anymore, so that’s cool. “Haven’t done anything since that night at the club. Didn’t even get to finish!” He juts his lower lip out and honestly, Harry just wants to kiss the pout off his lips. “C’mon, don’t be a downer, let’s dance.”

Louis pulls him up, dislodging Duchess from where she was napping, and turns on some music. “Dance with me!” Louis yells over the music.

Harry laughs, throwing his head back and dimples popping out. “I am!” Louis shakes his ass and winks at Harry, coming over to dance behind him.

Harry gestures towards his drink and makes his way over, downing the half empty glass in three large gulps. He shakes his head at the taste, he should’ve known Louis would make it mostly vodka.

Louis grabs one of his hands and pulls him back, snaking an arm around his waist to steady him against his chest.

“I said,” he whispers into Harry’s ear “dance with me, Haz.” He nips at Harry’s ear and starts grinding up against  him. Harry’s pants tighten and he moans, throwing his head back against Louis’ shoulder.

Louis takes advantage of his bared neck, dragging his lips up the column of his throat. He nips at Harry’s ear again, breath hot over the skin.

“Much better.” Louis sucks on the skin under his jaw just as he grinds up against Harry’s ass and Harry whimpers. Everything feels so good and it’s just not fair. Fuck it, he decides, if Louis wants to play dirty, he’ll play.

He turns around, slotting a leg between Louis’ thighs and grinds back, hooking his hands behind Louis’ neck. “Much better.” he parrots, a grin splitting his face at the surprise on Louis’.

Their foreheads fall together as their dance gets dirtier, breaths mingling in the air between them. Louis gasps when Harry grinds down particularly rough and it’s like something snaps in him.

He surges forward to kiss Harry, hard and unforgiving. Harry responds immediately, not even caring where this will inevitably leave them. Louis’ tongue comes out to run across his bottom lip, sliding in when he opens them, moaning at the feeling of Louis’ tongue working against his.

The kiss is wet and tastes like chocolate and alcohol but it’s perfect and Harry just wants _more_. His hands come down to run over Louis’ chest, fingering the hem of the shirt. Louis makes an appreciative noise as Harry teases at the idea of taking it off so he slides the material up, breaking their kiss just long enough to tug it off and toss it over to the side.

Louis quickly follows, throwing Harry’s shirt to join his own before running his hands over Harry’s chest. “Fuck, you’re so fit.” His hands finally settle on Harry’s hips, mouth coming down to Harry’s neck, biting and kissing and sucking his way back to his lips.

“I want to fuck you.” His breath sends shivers down Harry’s spine and he’s nodding before he’s even aware of it, the words stuck in his throat. Yes. Fuck yes, he wants that. Harry catches a glimpse of Duchess as Louis pulls him to his room and as silly as it is, Harry thinks she looks proud. She should be, he certainly is.

Louis pushes him on the bed, crawling on top of him, pushing all the thoughts out of his head as Louis’ tongue pushes it’s way into Harry’s mouth. His fingers make quick work of his jeans, pants following soon after.

He pauses and stares, admiring the way Harry’s cock lays thick against his stomach, wet at the tip. “God, so perfect.” He leans forward and sucks on the tip, sliding down to take more in his mouth.

Louis moans a little, the sound jolting Harry back into breathing, panting now that he’s remembered the need for air.

Harry watches as he bobs his head, the way his eyelashes flutter against his skin, the prominence of his cheekbones as he sucks hard around Harry.

There’s a warm feeling spreading through Harry’s abdomen, tightening and threatening to snap. He slides his hand into Louis’ hair, savoring the feeling for just a few more seconds before gently tugging and pulling the other man off, smiling a bit at the disgruntled look Louis gives him.

“Gonna come if you keep doing that, Lou. Want you to fuck me now.”

A smirk finds it’s way onto Louis’ face, eyes dark and voice deep as he speaks. “I can definitely do that.”

Louis is quick but thorough when he preps Harry. No time at all and he’s up to three fingers with Harry panting under him. He manages to rip open a condom with his teeth and roll it on all while still finger fucking Harry.

The sight sends another jolt of arousal through him and he doesn’t even have time to complain when Louis removes his fingers and quickly replaces them with the tip of his dick.

He pushes in just as Harry leans up to kiss him.

The thrusts are sloppy from the alcohol and fast, both too wound up to go slow.  Harry angles his hips up to hit that wonderful spot and Louis grabs onto his hips, refusing to let go so he doesn’t lose it.

The slow burn he first felt from not being like this in so long fades into sheer pleasure that nearly burns him in every place Louis is touching him.

Louis is kissing him hard, panting in between kisses, driving Harry crazy with the way he’s pounding into him. One of his hands leaves his hips only to grasp at Harry’s cock.

Harry nearly screams at the contact, the pleasure shooting up and down his body until he feels like he could die.

“C’mon, Haz. Come for me. Wanna see your face.” Louis follows his words by sucking on Harry’s neck, hard enough to leave a mark and that’s it. It’s over for Harry. His muscles all clench as he comes over their stomachs, his face screwed up in a silent scream, too blissed out to even think about making noise.

Louis mutters a few curses and follows soon after, collapsing on top of Harry after he’s spent. “Jesus Christ. Fucking amazing.”

Harry hums a sort of agreement and starts to doze off. Before he does finally fall asleep, he feels a warm cloth wipe him clean and lips press gently against the side of his temple. He sleeps the best he has in months with an arm thrown over his waist and a nose pressed into the back of his neck.

***

“Well, I wouldn’t really say it’s been awkward. Like, a few moments, yeah. Mostly he just acts like it didn’t happen.” Harry is snuggled up on his bed with some blankets and his laptop, skyping with Liam and Niall.

“Well, that’s weird.” Liam seems genuinely heartbroken for Harry and he almost feels bad for telling him. Almost.

“More like, ‘what a dick’ if you ask me.” Harry smiles a little bit at Niall, leave it to him to say what Liam won’t.

“He’s got a pretty dick, if it helps. Really big, too.” Niall cackles loudly just as Liam hides his face behind his hands.

“Did _not_ need to know that. Honestly. What’s he off doing now?”

“He stayed around for breakfast and watched a bit of footy before leaving to go see Zayn. Said something about asking how the date went with Perrie.”

Liam’s interest peaks at that. “Oh? They had a date? Like, official and everything?”

“Yup. Decided to actually stick with each other. No wonder Perrie’s been looking so happy this last week.”

“I know! I was wonder-”

“Oh, for Christ’s sake, lads! Gossip some other time! I thought Harry actually called us for a reason.” Harry would be more offended but honestly, he knows Niall’s heart is in the right place.

“Just talk to him, Haz.”

“It’s not that simple, Liam.”

“It really fucking is, Harry.” Niall scrubs his hands over his face in irritation, looking like he’s dealing with a particularly difficult five year old. “You’re both grown adults, fucking act like it.”

“Niall-”

“Nope. Not getting out of it this time. Just, talk to him. Obviously he likes you even a little bit if he slept with you.”

“Hate to say it but he’s right. Just talk to him.”

“I hate you both and you’re terrible friends.” Harry grumbles. Just then the front door slams and Harry can hear the sound of keys hitting the bowl and Louis calling his name. “Shit, Lou’s home.”

“Go get your man, Haz!” Niall hangs up immediately after and Liam sighs.

“Good luck.” He smiles and follows Niall’s lead just as Louis appears in his doorway.

“Hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

“Oh, uh, no. Not at all!” Harry shuts his laptop and practically shoves it onto the nightstand.

“Nothing, huh?” he teases, coming over to sit at the foot of the bed. “Got a minute?”

“Sure.” Great, this is already turning into an awkward conversation and there hasn’t even been a handful of words spoken.

“I’m sorry about last night.” Okay, no beating around the bush then. Also, ouch. Louis must see the disappointment clear on his face because his next words are rushed. “I’m not sorry for having sex with you.”

What? “What?” Definitely not the way Harry was expecting this to go.

“I’m not sorry for having sex with you.” Louis shrugs like it’s nothing. It is absolutely _not_ nothing. “I’m sorry we were drunk. I know it came out of nowhere and even though I’m sure you have a crush on me-” Harry blushes bright red but nods, refusing to look away. “but, as your teacher it’s greatly unethical and I should’ve asked you sober. So, sorry. For not asking at least.”

“Well, I do sort of have a crush on you.” Louis smiles at him and really, that’s all he needs to continue. “And screw ethics. You won’t be my teacher in a few weeks so, who cares? It’s not like you’re a forty year old creep trying to relive your youth through young boys.”

Louis laughs out loud at that, nearly hysterical and his eyes not showing they’re so crinkled. “Oh my God, Harry! Where the hell did that even come from?”

Harry beams at getting such a reaction out of him, although.. “You aren’t some forty year old creep trying to relive your youth through young boys, are you?” He doesn’t think so, but Louis hadn’t denied it. Sure he’s good looking but that doesn’t mean anything.

Louis laughs even louder and wipes at some wetness that’s threatening to spill over onto his cheeks. “ _Christ,_ Harry. No. I’m twenty four.”

Well. That’s a lot better than Harry thought. He thought for sure Louis was at least thirty.

“You’re not some genius kid that got into uni early, then? You sure you’re even legal?” Harry makes a face as Louis pokes at his cheeks. “You’re looking pretty young there, Hazza.”

Harry swats his hands away and grumbles “I’m nineteen, you prick.”

Louis laughs again, not unkindly and pokes again at where Harry’s dimple hides in his cheek. “So, I guess I should ask. Where does this leave us now?”

Right. No beating around the bush. “Well, I’d definitely like to have sex again.” Harry mumbles, looking at the wall directly over Louis’ shoulder.

“I kind of figured that much, babe. I meant, do you want just sex or do you want more than that?” Try as he might, Louis doesn’t manage to hide the little bit of insecurity that’s seeped it’s way into his tone and posture. Harry smiles what he hopes is in a reassuring way and goes for it.

“I was hoping for more, if I’m honest.”

He doesn’t get an answer to that. Well, technically.

Louis gets up from his spot on the bed and sits next to Harry, pulling him in for a kiss as soon as he’s touched the sheets.

It’s nothing like their kisses the night before. There’s no rush and no lust driving this kiss to end in more. It’s short and sweet and probably the best one Harry’s ever been on the receiving end of.

“I’d really like that, Haz.” Harry can’t help it. He giggles, honest to God, giggles.

“So, you know how you were only staying until the end of the semester?” Harry nods, still not having forgotten the conversation that got him to this place. “Well, I was thinking. Maybe you could stay a little longer?”

“How much longer?”

“As long as you want.” He smiles fondly at Harry, eyes gone soft and a look of pure happiness etched into his skin.

Harry closes the distance between them again, pressing his lips softly to Louis’ and pulls back to rest their foreheads together.

“I’d really like that, Lou.” he teases, throwing Louis’ words right back at him.

“You’re such a little shit. Come here.” Louis pulls Harry onto his lap and kisses him again.

The rest of their night goes about the same and if they end up christening Harry’s bed that night, well, that’s nobody’s business but their own.

**Author's Note:**

> I can honestly say… I’m glad that’s over. It was fun but now it’s time to move on. Come [tell me](http://www.loudippedincaramel.tumblr.com) what you think :)


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